About AODstats

As Australia’s leading national addiction treatment, training and research centre, Turning Point seeks to transform the way society provides treatment, specialist care and support for those affected by addiction.

AODstats provides information on the harms related to alcohol, illicit and pharmaceutical drug use in Victoria. Data are obtained from numerous sources, ranging from government departments to drug and alcohol treatment agencies. Ambulance data are sourced from Turning Point’s Ambo Project: Alcohol and Drug-Related Ambulance Attendances. This information provides a convenient statistical and epidemiological resource for policy planners, drug service providers, health professionals and other key stakeholders. The data and maps build on and update information previously provided in text format, deliver the most recent data available and provide a monitoring tool for alcohol and drug trends.

Background

The Victorian Department of Health has been funding Turning Point to deliver annual editions of the Victorian Alcohol Statistics Series and Victorian Drug Statistics Handbooks since 1999. The aim of these two comprehensive publications was to describe major patterns of alcohol and drug use, as well as associated harms in Victoria.

The Ambo Project is an ongoing monitoring project undertaken by Turning Point since 1998. It is a collaborative project between Turning Point’s National Addiction and Mental Health Surveillance Unit (NAMHSU) and Ambulance Victoria, and is funded by the Victorian Department of Health. Annual reports were previously published online in pdf format. In 2014, these volumes were redeveloped into an online interactive map in order to improve timeliness and usefulness of the data.